Saturday, April 28, 2007

Fun on a one-speed

Riding a one-gear bike takes effort, especially when hills are involved. And sometimes it’s a real struggle out there. But every so often, Heaven is reached on the road. The grade of the road, the selected gear ratio and leg strength all come together at once to form Heaven on Earth. And then at this point, you are effortlessly flying down the road, like you are being towed up a ski slope, passing anyone who stands in your way.

For me it typically happens, but not always, on a long, slight uphill. But you can never truly predict when you’ll reach Heaven, but you’ll know for sure once you are there. There’s no denying it. And as soon as it happens, it’s over. Don’t try to hang on to it. Let it go brother; walk away from it. Too much of a good thing is bad. Look what happened to Adam & Eve.

The funny thing is that I don’t reach Heaven on my geared bikes. Yeah sure, I get into a nice groove on my racing machine, but it’s not the same thing. I’m not sure why? May be we (i.e., one-gear riders) are being rewarded for all of our suffering.

I comment:

So true. And for reasons I can also not explain. The only time I get passed going uphill is by a one-speed fixed-gear bike.

I have tried to explain to people the best thing about a fixed gear is going uphill. And they never believe me because going up hill is *why* people have multi-speed bikes.

The real advantage to a ten-speed is you can go a lot faster on level ground. And that is a good advantage. And also, going downhill on a fixed gear isn't much fun. And that's a real disadvantage. Because going downhill on a bike is what fun is all about.